Judge Rules for Fla. Homeowners

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 17, 2002

A judge has ruled that a group of Florida homeowners opposed to a citrus canker eradication program can sue the state through a class-action lawsuit.

Judge J. Leonard Fleet certified the lawsuit, which could involve about 100,000 homeowners from Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

His decision is the latest move in a battle over a state program that has resulted in the destruction of some 333,000 healthy trees in the Miami area since January 2000.

Canker is a bacteria that causes unsightly brown blemishes on fruit and can cause it to drop prematurely from trees. It does not harm humans.

"This is a very big step in the journey," Robert Gilbert, a Miami attorney representing the homeowners, said on Thursday. "These homeowners' rights were violated when the state destroyed their trees and refused to pay the compensation equal to replacement."

All homeowners who had healthy trees cut down are now automatically part of the suit, Gilbert said. Attorneys for the state Department of Agriculture said they'll appeal.

Wesley Parsons, an attorney representing the Department of Agriculture, said the state is simply trying to remove a nuisance.

"These trees may look healthy, but they need to be removed now before the disease spreads," Parsons said.

But homeowners said the destruction of uninfected trees constituted a taking of private property for a public purpose. They seek damages equal to the replacement cost of the destroyed trees, a figure which could exceed $250 million.